upperdeane
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Post by upperdeane on Nov 23, 2019 20:19:54 GMT
www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/contact-us/complain-onlineYou can also just write a letter. But wait for the response unless it's urgent for some reason (I know some people have large amounts of money on stake..) If you wait, it may give you an advantage, for example, if they try to brush off your complaint or come up with specific arguments that you can challenge. I believe they have to come up with a resolution of the problem within 30 days, but please check. Thanks. FC acknowledge my complaint and say they will contact me within 5 days. I'm just prempeting an unsatisfactory response so wanted to be prepared for the next step. Thanks for the information.
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upperdeane
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Post by upperdeane on Nov 23, 2019 20:22:39 GMT
Hi! I am a long time lurker. I've been checking these forums every day for months and I thank this group for the sanity it has brought me. I listed 10k for sale on 12/6/19. It just sold and I got back 7.8k. I had withdrawn 2k earlier so am about even. I have also complained to the FCA about Funding Circle and am happy to share my complaint if anyone is keen. Let me know. If you could PM me, it would be useful to see your complaint before I submit mine to the FCA. Cheers.
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upperdeane
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Post by upperdeane on Nov 23, 2019 20:29:41 GMT
Complain to your MP first. Then tell the Ombudsman that your MP is on the case. In my experience (OK, only limited to one case), that works. We don't have have any MPs at the moment. They become regular people in the interim period before an election. All on hold till after the election! But then again thats only a few weeks away.
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corto
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Post by corto on Nov 23, 2019 20:43:13 GMT
If you can activate your MP, fine. If not, don't be scared; your complaint will be properly considered by the Ombudsman.
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Post by dogeared on Nov 24, 2019 9:32:53 GMT
I note some people are raising formal complaints, I'd be interested in hearing what these are precisely.
Other than the long delay I am facing, I see I'm going to be subject to a new 1.25% fee on selling loan parts, which just seems like robbery given I started selling them in July.
Do these complaints actually get you anywhere?
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Post by bernythedolt on Nov 24, 2019 10:53:37 GMT
dogeared , my own complaint mentioned above is on a separate, unrelated matter (with Ratesetter). I very much doubt, given the time lag involved, that anyone who has complained to the FO about the new 1.25% selling fee has had it upheld yet or can offer feedback. Luckily, my personal investment with FC is too low to warrant a complaint (I'm queued since mid-August), but I can well understand why others are doing so. I wish you luck with your case.
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Post by dogeared on Nov 24, 2019 11:27:37 GMT
dogeared , my own complaint mentioned above is on a separate, unrelated matter (with Ratesetter). I very much doubt, given the time lag involved, that anyone who has complained to the FO about the new 1.25% selling fee has had it upheld yet or can offer feedback. Luckily, my personal investment with FC is too low to warrant a complaint (I'm queued since mid-August), but I can well understand why others are doing so. I wish you luck with your case. Thanks for your reply.
I haven't actually raised a case yet, I was uncertain of the benefits in doing so.
Whilst I'm obviously unhappy with the time it's taking to withdraw money I guess that is part of the territory.
The fee however is an outrage given the implementation of it during the wait.
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scooter
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Post by scooter on Nov 24, 2019 12:33:53 GMT
I note some people are raising formal complaints, I'd be interested in hearing what these are precisely.
Other than the long delay I am facing, I see I'm going to be subject to a new 1.25% fee on selling loan parts, which just seems like robbery given I started selling them in July.
Do these complaints actually get you anywhere?
After Receiving my Final Response and raising a complaint with Ombudsman I asked FC to confirm whether they will suspend this action until The FO have ruled on it or if not, do they have a plan for restoring the queue and refunding payments if the FO find against them? This is their response" "We will not be suspending the changes announced on the 30th October, meaning they will go live on 2nd December. Any contact from the FOS will be dealt with on a case by case basis.
After review, our standpoint on this matter remains unchanged. Therefore you can now escalate your complaint further with the Financial Ombudsman should you wish to do so."I take this to mean that should the FO find against them in my case they will perhaps Refund Fees / compensate for my loss of place in the queue, but will not act to do anything for anyone else. So unless the FCA pull their finger out / grow a pair / man up and act on behalf of the consumer in a proactive way, only the very small number of people who make FO complaints stand a small chance of any redress (FC only have 8 FO complaints against them in total that have been ruled on and only one was upheld for a borrower.) Perhaps as lenders we are to blame for allowing platforms to carry on in this way. I don't know if I can post their email address on here but they are easy to find so copy you FC complaints to Mr A Bailey (Head of FCA) and Ms C Wayman (head of FO). Make a fuss!
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Post by moutarde on Nov 24, 2019 16:39:56 GMT
dogeared , my own complaint mentioned above is on a separate, unrelated matter (with Ratesetter). I very much doubt, given the time lag involved, that anyone who has complained to the FO about the new 1.25% selling fee has had it upheld yet or can offer feedback. Luckily, my personal investment with FC is too low to warrant a complaint (I'm queued since mid-August), but I can well understand why others are doing so. I wish you luck with your case. Thanks for your reply.
I haven't actually raised a case yet, I was uncertain of the benefits in doing so.
Whilst I'm obviously unhappy with the time it's taking to withdraw money I guess that is part of the territory.
The fee however is an outrage given the implementation of it during the wait.
I don't see any downside in complaining to the FO. The more of us who do so, the more likely they are to deal with the issue. For me : 31/10 : Complaint to FC 07/11 : Long answer from FC to tell me : "NO - Complain to the FO if you wish" 07/11 : Complaint to FO - Automatic acknowledgement 20/11 : Manual answer from a named person and a case reference, saying they will look into it as soon as they can
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Post by bernythedolt on Nov 24, 2019 22:39:45 GMT
You can see why the regulator is mandating that P2P platforms force their lenders to self-certify their level of understanding & experience, in an attempt to tailor and limit their investment exposure.
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Post by newlender on Nov 25, 2019 7:58:04 GMT
Although I'm not a FC investor I do have substantial holdings in other P2P companies, mainly Zopa. I've been following this thread with interest and of course the issue for people like me is how many other providers will need to restrict withdrawals and/or charge a fee in the future. I have found articles on P2P in the press becoming more and more realistic and critical over the past few months but I do wonder how many investors read these. Certainly, messages on the Zopa web page (my own personal area) such as 'don't forget to move your (cash - implied) ISA to Zopa' are not helpful and give the impression that the two are similar products. The financial press does usually give a fair reflection of the risks in my opinion but I agree that there is a need for the companies themselves to clean up their act. P2P is really a bit of roller-coaster investing for those who can risk their cash in the hope of getting higher returns. Self-certification is a bit of a joke (I did it in 2 minutes on Seedrs) and probably the only way to stop unsophisticated investors from losing a load of cash would be to limit the total holding of any individual to a given figure - £30k for example. Also, transfers from cash ISA to P2P should be banned above a certain amount.
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blender
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Post by blender on Nov 25, 2019 8:57:01 GMT
Perhaps the state should take all my cash into its care and give me a regular allowance, for my own protection. (I like your analysis but not the solutions.)
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Post by shanghaiscouse on Nov 25, 2019 11:35:39 GMT
My experience of the Ombudsman is that the people you are dealing with are not that professional. They seem to be incentivised to close the case as quickly as possible and so push to get a conclusion without digging into the details. I went to the Ombusdsman on one case of an outstanding loan (not FC related) and the Ombudsman pushed me down the route of 'there's nothing we can do, just pay it back immediately, you have no recourse from this decision'. I went to my MP, she got involved, the Ombudsman went quiet, I ended up having 5 years to pay it back interest-free, which was a deal offerred to me by the lender once they knew the MP was involved. Even better if your MP is on the Treasury Committee.... www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/treasury-committee/news-parliament-2017/dissolution-membership-17-19/
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Post by shanghaiscouse on Nov 25, 2019 11:39:05 GMT
If things weren’t bad enough in P2P we can look forward to increasingly ill-informed waxing lyrical on P2P. Article in the Sunday Times today by Kate Palmer (KP). Not solely about FC as it mentions Zopa. MORE illuminating about P2P journalism than anything else. I thought peer-to-peer was as safe as savings. Now I’m paying the pricewww.thetimes.co.uk/article/i-thought-peer-to-peer-was-as-safe-as-savings-now-im-paying-the-price-r0xbzk2bz“ Kate Palmer is a senior money reporter for The Times and The Sunday Times and joined last year from the BBC, where she covered home affairs. She is a leading voice on the UK’s pensions gender gap and is passionate about helping readers who have been ripped off. ...”
Ok maybe the title is not 100% reflective of the article but the journo might as well have written “I might be a senior editor in the ST money section but I’m clueless about the products I write about, even those I’ve invested in for years”. Here’s a gem from the article: [I am currently lending to 328 businesses and can see that 42 are “bad” debtors, with a further nine behind on repayments. The bad debtors include a six-year-old car fleet company that sought £88,000; Funding Circle had awarded it an A* rating — its best. That firm owes me £16, and the only bit I can be sure of getting back is the 4% funded by the British Business Bank, a state-owned institution set up to help small companies expand.] Go figure!!! I’m not in FundingSecure, but I note a lot of activity on FS threads based on another Times journo, James Hurley (JH). Even before the article by KP the first thought that crossed my mind was has JH got everything 100% correct. That thought occurs to me even more so now. As I said I’m not in FS and haven’t carefully read the article by JH. But I’d put a sportsman’s bet that there are significant inaccuracies in it. Heaven help any lenders who rely on P2P journalism for their understanding and information. Given P2P is for company founders who don’t understand P2P-lending to connect P2P lenders who don’t understand P2P-lending to P2P borrowers who don’t understand how to repay P2P-lending then it’s probably only fitting that it’s covered by journalists who don’t understand P2P-lending. But Dees, why do you insist on calling FC P2P??? It simply does not fit the definition because it is fully intermediated. You no longer have any direct "2" contact with any of the borrowing "Ps". The best it can be described as is a lending platform. But there is no P2P element.
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Post by shanghaiscouse on Nov 25, 2019 11:42:18 GMT
You can see why the regulator is mandating that P2P platforms force their lenders to self-certify their level of understanding & experience, in an attempt to tailor and limit their investment exposure. errr, if the platform simply changes its rules as it goes along then does it really matter what level of financial understanding you have?
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